Debra Mann solos with the Pops

by Channing Gray
The Providence Journal

Debra Mann got an unexpected Christmas gift this year - a call from the Boston Pops to solo with the famed orchestra in Symphony Hall.

Mann, who grew up in Cranston, RI, and lives on the East Side of Providence, was still on Cloud Nine the other day when she told how she joined conductor Keith Lockhart in a couple of Christmas programs, got her name on her dressing room door and was 'treated like royalty.'

Mann, who has sung at the Providence Westin and appears three times a week with her trio at the Westin in Boston's Copley Place, serenaded Pops audiences Dec. 18 and Dec. 20 with such holiday tunes as 'White Christmas' and 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.'

Mann, who backs herself up on the piano, said she's not sure how she got the most important gig of her 15-year old singing career, although she knows that a couple of players in the orchestra put in plugs for her.

'It never entered my mind to pursue the Pops,' said Mann. 'I didn't know they hired from the local base.'

'But to have all those years of experience and, hopefully, talent pay off was quite a gift.'

Asked if an encore with the Pops is in the works, Mann said she is not sure.

'But that's okay,' she said. 'It was a fabulous feather in my cap in and of itself.'